


What We Know

by ThereIsNoTragedyInThat



Series: Just You and Me and the Grief [6]
Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Andy | Andromache of Scythia Needs a Hug, F/F, Ficlet, Fluff, Good Quynh | Noriko, Hugs, Mild Angst, Tumblr Prompt, and she gets one, too many hugs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:08:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26735650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThereIsNoTragedyInThat/pseuds/ThereIsNoTragedyInThat
Summary: 20 hugs in 20 ficlets from my Tumblr
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko
Series: Just You and Me and the Grief [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947685
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	1. Beneath the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> Find the prompts here: https://mysunfreckle.tumblr.com/post/172214982206/hug-prompts

Andy woke with a start, the remnants of some forgotten nightmare slipping from her mind like grains of sand through fingers. Dreams never stayed these days, not for long anyway, not since she’d lost her immortality. It almost felt like a quiet gift, something that allowed her to finally sleep without fear for the last years of her life.

Or maybe it was because she was no longer alone in the way that mattered most.

Rubbing at her eyes, Andy frowned at the sight in front of her, something warm and aching settling in her chest. From where she was, she could just make out Quynh leaning on the railing of the balcony, the doors wide open behind her, almost as though it were inviting Andy to join her.

She no longer had time left to waste on uncertainties.

Slipping from the bed, Andy walked quietly over the plush carpet, only pausing at the doorway to take in the most beautiful sight. The moon was high in the sky and the lights from the streets down below offered some reprieve from the darkness and highlighted Quynh’s profile. She was the same woman really, maybe a little sadder, a little crueler, but Andy still knew her as if she were her own heart.

It was difficult to believe this was not a dream.

Walking up behind her, knowing Quynh had heard her and would not be surprised, Andy wrapped her arms firmly around her beloved’s waist. The reaction was instant, Quynh leaned back in her hold, a soft sigh slipping from her lips and it felt like coming home, like she’d finally found her place in the world again. Andy dreaded the moment that she would lose that, it was the only thing about death she feared, losing this.

Andy kissed the top of her head briefly, before settling her chin on Quynh’s shoulder and followed her gaze to the distant sea, barely visible in the night and between rooftops, “nightmare?”

“Yes,” Quynh murmured. “You?”

Andy hummed, hugging her closer.

The air was cool, almost chilly against their skin. They were both only dressed in thin t-shirts and loose sweats, not ideal for this weather but it was how they preferred it. She knew Quynh worried about her, but it was nice in a way that was hard to describe, to feel the possibility of consequences again. While in her lover’s case, Quynh took the cool, fresh air as another sign, another affirmation that she was free.

Andy pressed one more kiss to Quynh’s shoulder, let her take her hands and squeeze them. They stayed there for the rest of the night until the sun rose over the city, welcoming a new day, letting the silence of contentment settle around them.


	2. New Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Tired hug

Quynh found Andromache where she often did these days, in the fields too far from the protection of the small village they’d found, practically begging the roaming hoards and bandits to attack her. She stood, stiff as a tree, staring out that the line of the horizon, waiting for the sun to rise and letting its light wash over her.

It was a beautiful sight.

More often than not, Quynh would stand back, watching until Andromache was ready to return to her, to face the day. Not this time, because as the woman she loved became awash in the brilliant hues of orange and red, she spotted, from her cover in the tree line, the glistening wetness on her cheeks.

From the moment Andromache had found her, dying and alone in the desert, she’d lost all will to watch this woman suffer, no matter what form it took. Seeing tears on her cheeks…felt as though she were dying a million little deaths until she reached her side, brushing them away with trembling, fearful fingers.

“Andromache?” She did not look at her, her gaze fixed ahead even as her expression seemed to crumple in on itself. “Andromache please, what’s wrong? Speak to me.”

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed thickly and Quynh found herself reaching up to caress her cheek, applying the slightest pressure until those eyes finally met hers. What lurked in the depths of them stole her breath, the grief clouding their intensity with something that was eerily similar to defeat.

“I’m tired Quynh. I’ve been here too long, seen too many days and still the sun rises as though it is taunting me.”

It was as though she’d been struck by an arrow, the sound of Andromache’s voice, desolate as the wasteland she’d been found in, left her a float in a wave of helplessness. Quynh did not know how long her lover had been alive before finding her, though she knew Andromache had been alone a very long time before even finding Lykon.

A soul was not meant to haunt the earth for even half of that time.

There were no words to take the hurt away. Quynh wouldn’t dare try, so instead, she gathered her close and simply held her at the sun rose high into the morning sky. Andromache’s arms settled around her, hands clinging to the back of her shirt, shaky, stuttering breaths against her neck. 

Quynh willed it to be enough.


End file.
